Manatt’s Chiquita Brooks-LaSure, a managing director with Manatt Health, spoke with Inside Health Policy on the political split over premium decreases in states with reinsurance programs under the Affordable Care Act (ACA).
According to Inside Health Policy, Republicans are pointing to these decreases as proof that working around the ACA’s 1332 waivers will lower prices, particularly for people ineligible for tax credits. Democrats, however, say efforts to boost the ACA must also help the country’s lower-income population.
The Heritage Foundation has pointed to the reinsurance program’s success as a sign that states should get additional relief from the ACA. The foundation has also advocated for passage of Republican legislation setting up state block grants.
Brooks-LaSure said the ACA’s temporary reinsurance program was “extremely effective” in mitigating premiums. She also said she sees state-level reinsurance programs as a “positive step that more states should pursue,” and sees the need for federal legislation to help states struggling to obtain funding for their share of the costs.